[systemd-devel] clang-format: auto-formatting the code base of systemd

[Lennart Poettering]

On Fr, 04.01.19 14:23, Sebastian Jennen (sebastian.jennen at gmx.de) wrote:

> Hello systemd team,
>
> there is a pull request currently on systemd, which adds a .clang-format
> support, which you can find here:
> https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/11308
>
> clang-format is an automatic formatter for C code maintained by the llvm
> project. It works by tokenizing the source code and reassembling it under
> consideration of a single source code style defining file (.clang-format).
>
> I would like to ask you to participate on a poll on this, as this topic is
> controversial.
> One the hand this:
> - enables programmers to auto-format their patches to comply with the
> systemd style
> - fixes a couple of minor code inconsistencies
> on the other hand this:
> - reformats all existing code, which requires review
> - break some systemd specific styles which would need be changed some way
> (see especially the formatting of table blocks in pull request)
> - may annoy some developers, as custom styling is lost
>
> Please also take into consideration the suggested file tools/format-file.py
> to extend the clang-format formatting.

I think the core devs mostly already commented on the github issue,
and all agree that this a good thing, and we should try to make the
automatic reformatting a core part of our workflow. (For example, I
think in the long run the CI should refuse PRs which are not properly
formatted)

The only sticking points are some issues with the generated output
right now, i.e. the table corruption and things like that, but let's
discuss that on the github issue.

Lennart

--
Lennart Poettering, Red Hat